


Displacement

by gremlinny



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: And Maybe Something More, Homesickness, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Kissing, M/M, Past Child Abuse, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck, Zuko’s Scar, jet wants to be friends, ozai (Avatar) is a terrible parent, the ferry to ba sing se
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-18
Updated: 2020-07-18
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:08:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25365148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gremlinny/pseuds/gremlinny
Summary: Zuko sighs and tightens his grip on the railing, leaning overboard to look at the moon’s choppy reflection in the dark water.“Careful,” someone behind him says, and then Jet’s got an arm slung around his shoulder. “I’d hate to see you fall in.”“I’ll be fine,” Zuko replies, shrugging off Jet’s hand and leaning a bit more over the edge, just out of spite._______________Jet, Zuko, and one lonely night on the ferry to Ba Sing Se.
Relationships: Jet/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 13
Kudos: 279





	Displacement

**Author's Note:**

> Jet’s a nice kid and there’s not many fics that show it. So here’s two sweet boys on a boat.

There is nothing but water for miles and miles, and Zuko is starting to get anxious. 

He’s heard stories of fire nation ships attacking the ferries to Ba Sing Se, and the waves lapping at the boat make his nerves all the more frayed. He knows it’s not likely, but Azula and her fleet are always at the edge of his mind these days, and a sense of paranoia is creeping in steadily with each day spent treading water.

Wouldn’t that be something, so close to a second chance only for a warship to be at their heels, with his sister at its helm, shooting cannonballs and spewing fire like some great metal beast. 

Zuko sighs and tightens his grip on the railing, leaning overboard to look at the moon’s choppy reflection in the dark water. 

“Careful,” someone behind him says, and then Jet’s got an arm slung around his shoulder. “I’d hate to see you fall in.”

There’s no telling what time it is, but they should really be asleep. Everyone else has found somewhere to settle in for the night, or they’ve huddled up on deck with blankets, because even though it’s almost summer, there’s a chilly breeze that cuts through the air every now and then. Zuko himself had been nestled up in some secluded area of the ship, trying to shield himself from the wind, before anxiety and insomnia got the better of him. 

Jet looks tired, he realizes, noticing the dark circles under his eyes and the way the shadows frame his face. The way his clothes hang off him a bit too loosely, like they’d fit better just a few weeks ago. 

As if Zuko looks much different, if not worse. He’s been losing weight and muscle ever since him and his Uncle left the North Pole. 

“I’ll be fine,” he replies, shrugging off Jet’s hand and leaning a bit more over the edge, just out of spite. 

If he was awful, he might make a show of pretending to lose his balance, but his feet stay planted firmly on deck. 

Jet’s hand retreats before he hikes a leg over the railing to perch on it, at a much bigger risk to falling than Zuko is. If the ship rocks just a bit too hard, he’d go tumbling over the side. 

“I’m not really fond of boats, myself. I used to live in the forest,” he says, looking out over the waves with fondness in his eyes, “and there were these trees that were bigger than anything you ever saw. We made a camp out there, and that camp turned into a few huts in the canopy, ‘til it was basically its own little city. One giant treehouse.”

It almost sounds childish—like a little kid bragging about a blanket fort made with sofa cushions—but Zuko has seen the towering redwoods that dominate the more densely forested areas of the Earth Kingdom, the trees that are twenty feet thick, hundreds or thousands of years old. The idea makes him shiver along with the sudden gust of wind that whips across the stern. 

Jet looks back at him and offers his hand again, and Zuko takes it, joining the other boy on the railing, feet dangling into the empty space high above the water. 

“What about you, Li,” Jet asks, softly, “d’you ever miss home?”

Zuko doesn’t look at him.

“Every day. Sometimes I wake up and for a split second I think I’m in my own bed, but…” If his voice cracks, if he sounds a little choked up, Jet pretends not to notice, but his grip on Zuko’s hand tightens ever so slightly. He shivers again, though not from the cold this time, and takes a deep breath.

“I… I had to leave so quickly. I hadn’t even healed yet, I just… needed to get away.”

The ship rocks with a jolt, but they’re holding on tight. At some point, Jet had moved closer, closer, until their knees were pressed together. Zuko can’t bring himself to get down. 

Jet’s voice is barely audible against the creaking of the ship and the pounding of high-pressured blood thrumming in Zuko’s ear.

“I’m sorry.”

It’s so sincere. As if it’s Jet’s fault and not his own. 

“Don’t— Don’t apologize. I was somewhere I shouldn’t have been. I should’ve been quiet. I brought it on myself. It was… I was a _coward_.”

The fingers curled around his right wrist come as a surprise, and Zuko wonders at what point he’d reached up to dig the heel of his own hand into his scar. It’s a perfect match, if a bit too small, with the palm of his hand directly over his eye, fingers creeping into the marred skin at his hairline. It goes further, to his lip and jaw and down his throat, but Ozai’s hand had been where the fire was hottest. 

Jet tugs Zuko’s arm back down, away from the mangled flesh of his face, and the former prince wants nothing more than to let himself fall into the inky depths beyond the railing. 

“You’re not a coward. Whatever fire nation bastard did this to you, _they’re_ the coward.”

“It was _my_ fault—“

_“It was cruel,”_ Jet interrupts, something protective in his tone, like he’s being challenged, _“and it was wrong.”_

Zuko feels his heart crawl into his stomach when another wave shakes the boat, frozen when he tumbles backward, blinded by the light of the moon. He hits the deck and all the air is forced out of his lungs the moment his back slams into the wood. Dimly, he sees Jet vault back on board, and he’s being put back to his feet by the freedom fighter as he gasps for air. 

“Look at me.”

He looks, still dazed. 

Jet’s head is tilted to the side, and he barely registers the kiss pressed to the scarred side of his jaw. 

“You deserved better than whatever they put you through,” the other boy tells him. 

Zuko can’t help but wonder if he even deserves _this_. Until they reach the walls of Ba Sing Se, though, he’ll let himself have it.

**Author's Note:**

> I’m castledock on tumblr


End file.
